Well, I’m pretty sure most of you know The Lord of the Rings motivated me to begin thinking of writing as something I could do for the rest of my life. But it began a lot earlier than that.

I guess I could start in the second grade when we were allowed to write stories for the school library. I’m not sure how many I wrote, but I know I loved doing it. I also got to illustrate them. It was a few years later (around the fifth grade) that I read and illustrated another story. I loved this one for some reason. I think because it was my own creation. It was about two princesses who were twins (I like twins, I’m a twin) who ate pie for breakfast and there was this evil witch who wanted them dead. Somehow they outwitted her, but I can’t remember how.

Periodically after that I would pull out paper sit, staring at the page, wondering why I had pulled out paper in the first place. My body was telling me to write, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write. Usually, I just worked on handwriting (I had great handwriting then. I do not now). When I entered the eighth grade I had to begin essay writing. I dreaded it, but as it turned out, I was pretty good. My teacher even asked that I transfer to Honors. Christmastime came and I had to read 700 pages for my Reading Log so I went to the library. My friend had checked out the biggest book (it had to be the biggest book in that library) which was The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I wanted it. It had a lot of pages. All that was left on the shelf was The Return of the King, but I knew my brother had The Two Towers at home. I decided to check out The Return of the King with the idea that I wouldn’t read The Fellowship of the Ring. Crazy? Yes.

It was the best idea ever. I had a crazy obsession, but I had a new motivation. I wanted to write my own books and I finally knew what I wanted to write—Fantasy. I had a starting point and soon began to tap away on my computer. Night after night I wrote on a book, not really knowing what I was doing, but I figure I could learn from reading LotR, The Hobbit, Narnia, and other books I never knew existed until after LotR. I feel like sometimes I sound crazy because I attribute so much to this book, but without it, I’m not sure what would have happened. I will never know because it’s been nine years and I’m a writer.

It is totally cool that your school encouraged its students to write like that. Also totally cool that you feel comfortable calling yourself a writer. I'm probably old enough to be your grandmother, but I still feel awkward claiming the title. (Like I should maybe whisper the word.) Nice to meet you.

LOL. I agree! Although, I don't believe they're so keen on this now. Schools are totally into the Math and Science! I actually had a post about how uncomfortable I am with calling myself a writer, but I'm trying to change that by changing my vocabulary and declaring "I am a writer!" lol.

I think I'm the only person on the planet who hasn't read Tolkien, but I loved C S Lewis. (I only started reading him because of "The Horse and His Boy" - I was horse crazy :-) Nice to meet you via "Origins" :-)

I must be the only person alive who has never read those books, but I usually stuck with mysteries or classics when I was a kid. Except for a very brief phase with fairytales. Has anyone ever read the originals? They are quite a trip- not exactly for children unless you want to give them nightmares.

I love how you said your body was telling you to write. I so believe that when we slow down and listen...our bodies tell us so much. :-) Thanks for stopping by yesterday! Looking forward to following a new blogger friend. Happy V Day!